72 
MYTll.US. 
two shillings ; those of eight or nine grains, if fine 
in colour and shape, are of arbitrary value. The 
finest specimens, of extremely rare occurrence, 
have fetched enormous prices, and have even been 
considered invaluable, fit only to adorn the regalia 
of princes and contribute to the costly splendour 
of Asiatic potentates. These beautiful and unas- 
suming productions, so delicate and .varied in their 
tints, so elegant in their forms, are more highly 
estimated and more generally used as ornaments 
in Asia than in Europe, and consequently the most 
precious are retained by the Asiatic merchants. 
The word Mytilus is from i^vr'i’koi;, the diminu- 
tive of [IV a mouse, to which little sharp-nosed 
animal some of the small dark species might have 
been compared. 
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